Burch: A moment of silence

Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 10:05pm

By Michael R. Burch

There was a moment of silence after Sandy Hook, then the National Rifle Association’s madness resumed.

A wise man once pointed out that if we don’t learn from the errors of the past, we are doomed to repeat them. Are Tennessee students and teachers now doomed to die because the NRA and its political lackeys refuse to learn from their egregious errors?

According to a U.N. report, the U.S. has by far the highest rate of gun-related deaths among the world’s 23 richest nations, averaging 20 times more such homicides than its peers. Tennessee probably has one of the highest gun-death rates in the developed world, since according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, we ranked eighth among the states with 966 shooting deaths in 2009.

The center gave Tennessee gun laws an “F,” and that was before some of the even crazier legislation of recent years.

After the Sandy Hook massacre, the NRA went through a silent period during which it stopped sending out Tweets and made no public comments about the murders of 20 young children and six educators. Many of us hoped this silence indicated that the NRA was really thinking for a change, rather than just relentlessly pursuing its rigid ideology of “the more guns, the better.”

But when the NRA finally spoke, it was the same old funny farm looniness. There was no admission that flooding the nation with weapons, including assault weapons, is getting children and teachers killed. The solution, according to the NRA, is to put an armed policeman in every school.

But the Columbine and Aurora massacres illustrate why this is not really a “solution.”

When two heavily armed killers attacked Columbine, Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff’s deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years, was on duty. Gardner confronted the killers and exchanged shots with them, but he was outnumbered and they had the advantage of surprise and superior firepower. Gardner had a handgun. The killers had semi-automatic weapons, shotguns, and a variety of bombs. Gardner was also handicapped by not wanting to accidentally harm innocent children and teachers. The killers obviously had no such compunctions. So as soon as they were inside the building they had every advantage, including potentially a large number of hostages. If Gardner had gone into Rambo mode, entering the school in a hail of bullets, he might have been killed and more innocents along with him.

The Aurora killer wore full body armor: ballistic helmet, ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, throat protector, groin protector and tactical gloves. He carried an assault rifle with a 100-round magazine, a 12-gauge shotgun, two semiautomatic pistols and gas canisters. Could a single policeman armed with a handgun have overcome all those advantages?

The NRA wants us to believe that real life is like a cowboy movie, where one Lone Ranger can defeat any number of villains even though all the odds are stacked against him. Here’s what Wayne LaPierre said in the NRA’s first public statement after Sandy Hook: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” He also claimed that confronting guns with guns is “the only line of positive defense that’s been tested and proven to work.” But that simply isn’t true. Other nations have demonstrated that there are better ways to reduce gun-related deaths.

Here are three quick examples: (1) Our closest “relative” among the nations is England, but we have more than 40 times as many gun-related deaths per capita as the United Kingdom. (2) Japan has ultra-strict gun control laws, and gun-related deaths there are very rare. (3) After a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead in Port Arthur, the government quickly issued sweeping reforms of its gun laws. There hasn’t been a mass shooting since. Australia’s National Firearm Agreement, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons being bought back, then destroyed, has undoubtedly saved many lives.

The fearmongering NRA is lying to the American public. The earth’s richest, most developed nations have proven that gun control can and does save lives. The stronger the gun control — as in England, Australia and Japan — the fewer the gun-related deaths.

The NRA wants to sell tons of guns and is willing to put profits above the lives of our children and teachers. It’s time to tell the NRA in no uncertain terms that we intend to put the lives of our children and teachers first.

Michael R. Burch is a Nashville-based editor and publisher of Holocaust poetry and other “things literary” at www.thehypertexts.com.

172 Comments on this post:

Looks like we're a little different, bfra with your comment about me not having what I used to have physically. I'm afraid you never had what you now think you have now.

By:bfra on 12/28/12 at 1:27

Neither have you seen me threatening, daring, bragging or mouthing about shooting or whipping anyone. You are nothing but a BIG MOUTH OLD FOOL! You prove it everyday on this board.

By:Eye Nose & Now ... on 12/28/12 at 1:47

I not postes for week as last time mean spearit republicn call me Bi-poler Eye
Nose. He use name of BFI which is grate for him as that mean garbageman
in Nashville Other type republican is politic ignant - like yoga man but he not
mean spearit just old and set in ways and he mean well by not like spred welth
around and other republicn idees I still wants wish all Obama Believers AND nonbelievers happy New year 20-13

By:Eye Nose & Now ... on 12/28/12 at 1:59

Late in day but i make one short post again today Obama he born in Hawai
cause man right NOw governr of Hawai he say HE THERE day Obama be born
I thinks man NOW governr there when Obama born cause he afraid he might be father but he find out right quick he not and he wents home and say thank you Jesus So proves born in U.s. and makes him leagle presdent and not ill eagle as
yogi man he claim every day in his postes

By:dargent7 on 12/28/12 at 2:07

Yogi reminds me of Curly (no offense to Curly) of The Three Stooges.
Think of the bit they did when Curly won a radio contest (Shemp did too) and stayed in Hotel Costa Plenty.
Upon arriving, the manager tells them, " the furnishings in this room are priceless".
"Take this bed for example...it goes back to King Louis the VIII".
Curly replys, "That's nothing...we had a bed that went back to Sears Roebuck the III".
Like Curly, yogi was born that way. Only not the least bit funny.

By:yogiman on 12/28/12 at 2:16

ENN, the Hawaiian governor might say he was in Hawaii when Barack was born, and he may have been. But he didn't say he was in the hospital that didn't exist that Barry has claimed as his birth place.

Now let's look at the other side of the story: Obama's paternal grandmother says she was in the room with his mother when he was born in Kenya. So who's lying; Obama's paternal grandmother or his maternal grandparent's friend who's now the Hawaiian governor?

And by the way; did his maternal grandparents ever claim he was born in Hawaii? I only remember reading such a statement they only claimed to be his grandparents.

The governor also said he would provide Obama's birth certificate the day he was sworn in to office. Let's see now, how many years ago was that? He still can't seem to find it or order it to be shown. Ever wonder why? Hell fire, can't it even be found?

I'd bet it could in Kenya.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 2:30

By: yogiman on 12/28/12 at 1:20
Looks like we're a little different, bfra with your comment about me not having what I used to have physically. I'm afraid you never had what you now think you have now.

This is true, yogi. bfra is human and you're not.

By:Blanketnazi2 on 12/28/12 at 2:44

Nemo, he thinks he's an authority on the constitution when he isn't smart enough to know that Rahm Emanuel is from Chicago. He's now accusing Rahm of "usurping" his office. What an idiot.

By:Blanketnazi2 on 12/28/12 at 2:45

Maybe he'll go out and play with his guns this weekend and win a Darwin Award.

By:dargent7 on 12/28/12 at 2:52

I don't care if Obama was born on Mars, or worse, Detroit like Mittens.
Guy stopped the war in Iraq and hopefully stops the wasted b.s. in Afghanistan.
He's the smartest guy in ANY room, worldwide, and doesn't embarrass himself or the Nation like GW Bush always did. Or barf on the Premier of Japan and pass out like his fool daddy did.
Who'd you rather have in the Oval Office? Newty McPherson who wanted to colonize the Moon within 8 years? That thrice married, adultery POS would ruin the country, worse than GW Bush. McSame and bobble-head Palin? Nit and Wit.
Congress can come up with $70. billion dollare "supplements" for two wars multiple times, but cannot fund Planned Parenthood or Obamacare that helps people in America.
Now we're at the fiscal cliff....all courtesy of Republicans.
Boner, McConnel, Cantor are all slime dogs who are holding America hostage while they screw around with their egos trying to rerail Obama, They don't care about America.
Maybe it does take a Kenyan to truly care about the American people.
Fine by me.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 2:52

By: Blanketnazi2 on 12/28/12 at 2:45

Maybe he'll go out and play with his guns this weekend and win a Darwin Award.

It won’t happen, Blanket, he can’t figure out how the big bullet, can get down that little barrel. He is usurping of brain.

By:dargent7 on 12/28/12 at 2:54

No, Bn-2, yogi stays at home and plays with his Wang. Not the computer.

By:Blanketnazi2 on 12/28/12 at 2:55

Can he find it?

By:Blanketnazi2 on 12/28/12 at 2:58

The search and rescue must take him half the day.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:00

The dogs know.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:02

d7, the only Wang yogi knows is Dr. Wing Wang on TV.

By:yogiman on 12/28/12 at 3:17

Time will tell, B2.

I don't know it you're showing such support for someone whom you have no idea who in the hell he is as socialists or communists on this site but I'll admit, I've never known another group to show so much support for someone when they have no idea who in the hell he is.

And don't tell me you do know who he is because you can't because he has refused to identify himself form the word go. If I'm wrong, prove me wrong, don't just post me as wrong.

That alone is one of the facts of difference between us. You have all posted you have given me "information" he's in office legally but you have constantly refused to repeat such evidence. Why? Have you misplaced it?

You haven't offered any reason why you think he's eligible with a Kenyan father but Romney isn't with an American father. I mean, after all, this is the USA, ya know, not Kenya.

By:Rasputin72 on 12/28/12 at 3:20

There is a certain amount of pleasure one gets from pulling the tails of fools and failures.

Only through people like me can people like the Simple Six survive.

I am only reminding most of the group of fools what your elementary school teachers knew years ago. You are just passing through.

Was there not key lyrics to a great song that "Only the strong survive."?

By:budlight on 12/28/12 at 3:29

: Rasputin72 on 12/28/12 at 8:46
This little website consisting of. an old hippie, six simpletons, three well intentioned liberals,a relic from the rural south,a couple of out theres and a antagonist represent 75% of the make up of the new USA..

Now all we need for a quorum is non english speaking hispanic and a couple of felony parolees.

Is this not diversity at work?
\Good point Raspy.

For those of you who want MORE laws, China just passed a new law stating that grown children must visit their parents more often or they can be sued by their parents.

My parents are deceased and I have no children, so I can now move to China without any fear! LOL Look for some disgruntled old guy to sue his kids and make history in China. This law coming to a country near you~ LOL LOL

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:33

Mike I use to think there was no way anyone could stop the US Tobacco Industries, but look at the giant today. It is not completely dead, but it does not have the strength it once had. Maybe the NRA is losing its grip in Washington and reason on this subject will return and some other foolish idea will rule the floors of the Capital.

By:budlight on 12/28/12 at 3:37

bfra on 12/28/12 at 1:27
Neither have you seen me threatening, daring, bragging or mouthing about shooting or whipping anyone. You are nothing but a BIG MOUTH OLD FOOL! You prove it everyday on this board.

bfra never tires of running people down. Me thinks he is looking in a mirror when he is demeaning people. He's (she's) really talking to her/him self.

And what does bfra do for a living that allows one to stay on this post all day? Must be a gov-ment worker.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:49

Only the Ratputin can see himself as the center of the universe, but that because his limit of view is trap inside his ego. His has no vision of who the productive people are.

Raspy old boy you are not the man you think you are. You are still the same little punk you were in West Nashville and the only difference is you are now older in body, but still the conniving little waste.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:55

By: budlight on 12/28/12 at 3:37

bfra never tires of running people down. Me thinks "he" is looking in a mirror when he is demeaning people. He's (she's) really talking to her/him self.

bud, you old pompous old wind bag, I thought you know who bfra was. Just like so much you post here, it is just rambline from a desperate and lonely old cow.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 3:59

By: budlight on 12/28/12 at 3:51
Yogi, eye, nose & now is not a separate person on this board. It is bfra and G posing as someone else. Or it could be D7 who is an avid obama fan (sorry D7, but it does sound kind of like you).

How would you know bud? Your Crystal Balls giving you insight?

By:Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 4:12

bud says, "So you must look at the accidental shootings of children. A parent, guardian or other has dropped the ball. Someone should have been watching a 2 year old or else it would never have been in the position to run behind the car OR PICK UP THE GUN."

bud keeps her screeching her warp thinking of what is the more important thing, people’s lives or keeping a gun to kill the people. But then again she is only a troll with a lonely sex life.

BTW bud cars now have back-up cameras to help in stopping such accident. I find it funny that someone that never raised any children of her on, (and thinks child rearing is like training dogs) knows how to care for children.

By:budlight on 12/28/12 at 5:10

Nemroid, go back into your dark cavity. You are irritating.

And if there are back up cameras, why don't people use them? Also, why rely on a camera when you should be holding a 2-year olds' hand? DUH! Hope you don't have grandchildren if you think having a back up camera is enough for child safety.

And well, raising children is not like raising dogs. Dogs can never open their own can of food. Children can eventually fend for themselves if trained properly. But by the same token, some children can be more difficult to train than a dog because dogs don't talk back. BUT dogs can bite you and most kids don't.

It takes love, discipline, patience and an intelligent mind to raise both. My dog is extremely well behaved. Your's is probably a nightmare and nuisance to the neighborhood, if you even have one -- dog, that is!

Guns are OK in the home of intelligent law abiding citiizens who are conscious of their surroundings. It's the drunks like you who worry me the most. That constant imbibing of the spirits seems to deaden one's awareness over time. Put that bottle down, nemroid!

By:budlight on 12/28/12 at 5:14

A lonely old hog would recognize a lonely old cow nemroid.

Captain Nemo on 12/28/12 at 2:30
By: yogiman on 12/28/12 at 1:20
Looks like we're a little different, bfra with your comment about me not having what I used to have physically. I'm afraid you never had what you now think you have now.

This is true, yogi. bfra is human and you're not.

Well, no nemroid, bfra is really not human; just pretends to be one.

What's your excuse?

Your turn, nemroid!

By:yogiman on 12/28/12 at 7:37

dumba$$ is a perfectionist that makes constant errors, butlight, but thinks he's deserves an A+ in his language.

bfra, like all of the others who aren't qualified to be a 'troller', also thinks she's an expert in the English language. That is, until the computer makes a damn error on her. But, it's the computer's fault, of course.

By:Ask01 on 12/29/12 at 9:08

It is fun to read comments baiting the trolls, but the preponderance of troll droppings generated makes navigating the page a risky and odorous process.

I agree with Mike that the pro gun crowd has demonstrated a sort of madness in their attempt to spin the tragedy in Connecticut to their benefit. They are truly grasping at random straws to offset the emotional impact of the massacre which threatens to drive the enactment of sane gun laws.

To be fair, the anti gun crowd is using that same emotional outrage to further their own agenda.

Much as MADD used a multiple DUI offenders killing of founder Candy Lightner's daughter to create the organization, delivering us to the point where we presently exist, with severe penalties for even first time offenders, who never had any previous run ins with any law, the anti gun crowd could ride the current wave all the way to Washington, inundating the halls of government, crafting society altering legislation.

With the same fervor as the prohibitionist who preceeded MADD, an anti gun sentiment could overwhelm the nation, though hopefully without the horrific consequences envisioned, almost gleefully I fear, by Loner of having to pry guns from the cold dead hands of their owners. Stricter gun laws are almost certainly in the works, despite what politicians might say.

The severity of these inevitable laws will depend on the reaction and response from the NRA and it's members.

One fact I believe is certain. This will be a contentious and brutal debate. the tipping point could come if, as I fear it could, some gun enthusiast decides to express with full metal jackets his displeasure at the potential limits to his fetish, taking his argument to Washington D.C.

Loner could get his wish after all if enthusiasts fail to keep the radicals locked up.

By:budlight on 12/29/12 at 9:20

Who didn't see this coming:
"NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A New Haven attorney is asking permission to sue the state for $100 million on behalf of a student who survived the mass shooting at a Newtown school.

The Hartford Courant reports (cour.at/Tvo5v9) that attorney Irving Pinsky filed notice Thursday with Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. The state has immunity against most lawsuits unless permission to sue is granted.

Pinsky said the 6-year-old student, identified as "Jill Doe," was in her classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 when "the horrific confrontation" with Adam Lanza came over the loudspeaker.

Lanza killed 20 first grade students and six adult staffers at the school before killing himself."

Was she the one who was actually in a classroom and survived? Or is she just one of the many in other classrooms? The article does not say. But good grief, if all of them sue, Connecticut is going to shut down.

Should they all be compensated? Possibly with free college, but not one hundred million dollars. This is a tough one to call.

Pinsky said the student has been traumatized by the killings, and accused the state of failing to protect students from "foreseeable harm."

By:Ask01 on 12/29/12 at 9:26

Perhaps the NRA will pay part of the costs as a show of good faith.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 9:26

From yesterday, bud’s 5:10 post had misgivings about cars having back up cameras only shows that living under The Bridge is no way to live. Perhaps if she crawled out into the sunlight she would discover the real world.

Then she moves to an impractical argument about dogs opening a can of food. How her destitute intellect morphs from one disconnection to another must be a strange journey indeed. She still relating a child’s upbringing and dog training as the same, she brags that her dog is well behaved, but does her dog have a collage degree as my daughter has?

Then to her 5:14 post she wonders into her pervert sex life of hogs and cows. She has to be the neighborhood oddity

By:bfra on 12/29/12 at 9:32

bud - That should be right down your alley! How many posters have you threatened to sue on this board alone?

Ask01 - Nice to read 1 comment by someone with good sense & logic . The troll droppings got so heavy yesterday, I just quit reading.

By:bfra on 12/29/12 at 9:33

Nemo - Didn't see you comment before I posted. Good Morning!

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 9:38

From yesterday yogi says that I am a perfectionist, which I have never clamed to be. However I can see with his limited mental capacity, he would make such an error.

Then he tells bfra that she is not “qualified to be a troller.” (sic) and I agree with him on that. She is not and he is. :-}

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 9:49

By: budlight on 12/29/12 at 9:20

Lanza killed 20 first grade students and six adult staffers at the school before killing himself."

Was she the one who was actually in a classroom and survived? Or is she just one of the many in other classrooms? The article does not say. But good grief, if all of them sue, Connecticut is going to shut down.
_______________________________________________________________________
My word this old cow can only be jealous of this legitimate law suite and wishing it could be hers.

Ask01 I think that the NRA will back the school district.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 10:07

I agree Ask01 that both side of this are fighting for the high ground but are making matters worst. As usual people can and do go from one extreme to another.

As for the troll baiting, there is no way to communicate to this individuals. So my bantering with this subhuman species is an effort to keep their, fears and paranoia lies from spreading to the population. Plus I have don’t better to do at this time.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 10:12

Good morning to you bfra. I hope you have a good day, even if the weather looks so gloomy.

By:yogiman on 12/29/12 at 10:49

dumba$$,,

You and your "buddies" all keep making remarks about the mass murder made by a young 'mentally ill' man in Newtown CT.

Tell me, how many 'men' did the US Government use to slaughter 75 people, (including 25 children) in Waco TX in February 1993?

My question: Is/was the US Government mentally ill under Bill Clinton to kill 75 people in such a situation?

By:yogiman on 12/29/12 at 11:14

Is it really news, a government official finally presenting the facts... or is the Hawaiian state registrar lying?

The Hawaiian state registrar has publicly certified to AZ SOS Ken Bennett that Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate is legally non-valid and the White House image is a forgery.

yogi - www.theobamahustle.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/breaking-news-hawaii-state-registrar-alvin-onaka-has-publicly-certified-to-az-sos-ken-bennett-that-barack-obamas-hi-birth-certificate-is-legally-non-valid-and-the-white-house-image-is-a-forgery/
==============================================
Posted by a troll that isn't legally certified of even being human, so it means nothing. Just another trash site, he happened to find since that is all he slobbers over.

By:yogiman on 12/29/12 at 12:52

You may wake up someday, bfra. I hope so for the sake of your children... and grandchildren if you have any.

Was his comment "the day I'm inaugurated the Muslim world will look at America differently" also a possible fake when he made it over TV? If so, just how many lies has he made over TV?

By:bfra on 12/29/12 at 12:55

Posted by a troll that isn't legally certified of even being human, so it means nothing. Just another trash site, he happened to find since that is all he slobbers over.
=============================
Reread this comment FOOL! It covers any trash you have ever or will put on this board.

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 2:30

When yogi calls everyone a dumb ass, how do we know to whom he is talking too? It could be bud or it could be p3 or even Ratzputin. No wonder he is so confused and confusing.

By:yogiman on 12/29/12 at 3:08

bfra,

I see you and your fellow posters on this site as one of two things. You are either fellow communists with Obama or idiots who can't see beyond their nose purely based on politics.

If you're fellow communist with him, I can understand your way of thinking. But if you aren't, you're in for one hell of a shock pretty damn soon.

By:bfra on 12/29/12 at 3:26

The Old Fool has been posting this same crap, starting on the 5th year!

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 5:13

I believe that yogi’s 3:08 post is the 1371st time he has repeated himself. It is like watching a vortex that keeps sucking on its self over and over and over and over and ove…….

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 5:16

shb 3:03.

I must have got caught in a time event horizon.

By:bfra on 12/29/12 at 5:18

Nemo - He is always referring to very soon, pretty soon, etc.. So evidently he doesn't have any concept of time either. 4+ years is not "soon" anything. :-)

By:Captain Nemo on 12/29/12 at 5:24

Someday soon he will die. Someday soon his anger will echo throughout all eternity and the dead will take him and let him hears his foolishness as his reward for being the fool he is.